Tag Archives: protection

Psst, come here and give me a hug. Can you feel what’s hugging me as you hug me? If you don’t know what that is, then your ignorance about foundation garments is appalling. Some days are corset days, some days are bra days, and some days are dirty hippie days when I wear nothing at all.

I like corsets. I don’t wear them tight enough to permanently change my shape. I wear them just tight enough that they’re not slipping around and being uncomfortable. I can do anything in a corset: fuck, toss cabers, cook, drive, run, kneel and suck, ride carousels– anything I want to do. I like corsets because it feels like someone is always hugging me, like a lover wrapping his or her arms around me as they look over my shoulder.

There are tons of different styles of corsets, ranging from from ancient to modern. I prefer a corset that’s more in a modest Victorian style–one that covers my tits (because why should you have to wear a bra with a corset? That’s stupid!) and comes down far enough on my hips that when I kneel or bend over it doesn’t slip up over the waist band of my jeans.

While corsets may seem expensive and time consuming, they’re really not.

In the long run, corsets work out to be cheaper than bras, especially if you shop around and take good care of your garments. You only need one corset (although more is always fun). You don’t wash it more than once a year (if that). You hang it over a hanger in the closet to air, if you want you can put fabric refresher on it, and the only other expense is buying camisoles to go under the corset. Cotton camis are much cheaper than bras and much easier to wash. Once you practice a time or two, putting on your corset is a cinch because you shouldn’t unlace it after every wearing. You only need to loosen the laces before storage.

Ideally, corsets should be just tight enough not to slide around, like someone giving you a nice hug. There is the practice of corset training, which is a form of body modification. During the Victorian Era, it was the norm to purposely and permanently change a woman’s shape by using corset training.

Corset piercing is another popular form of body modification.

Magically, corsets are like egg shells–protective and decorative. They can be used for magical and psychic protection since they cover your heart, solar plexus, and sacral chakras.

Your corset, when used magically, is an extension of your psychic walls of protection. You can use color magic to boost this principle, applique on stones, or embroider or paint runes and sigils on your corset.

Since corsets shouldn’t be washed, Florida water, of Hoodoo and Zora Neale Hurston fame, can be dabbed on the inside seams that cover the boning to cleanse your corset psychically and to give it a nice scent. Why those particular areas? When applied to the inside seams that cover the boning, the Florida water won’t seep through to the front of the corset and potentially stain the material. (Thanks Ms. Finch!)

Corsets can also be used for self-bondage. A wonderful self bondage/suspension substitution is to lace yourself into a corset (and for this you may lace a little tighter than for normal wear) and go swing on a high “big kid” swing at the park. You know, the ones that get really high into the air.

Just enjoy the moment. Use it as a meditation or a private, sexual moment (or both). Once you get high enough, lean back and just let your body fly through the air–only pumping enough to maintain your height. When you’re done, you can use the gradually slowing motion to bring yourself back down to reality.

These folks hope that you all have a very fun Ostara and fuck like bunnies:

The evil eye. Just the mention of it sends shivers to a great majority of people. Although the old adage says “If looks could kill…”, many people, Pagans and non-Pagans, know that looks can kill–in a way. If a look is directed at a person with enough malice behind it and with enough frequency, the universe often responds. How can one protect themselves from these baneful glances? Evil Eye Magic!

The evil eye motif has become rather fashionable of late as celebrities have embraced this ancient custom by making it chic to wear evil eye jewelry and nail designs. The design works not only for those afflicted, but for those not yet afflicted as well (and let’s face it, everyone at one point or another has felt the evil eye radiating out from another person’s eye sockets).

How can you tell if you’re under the influence of the evil eye? According to the Stregas, take a cup of water and some olive oil. Put the cup on your head (you might need another person to help with this) and drop a little of the olive oil into the water. If the oil stays in droplets, then you’re clear. If the oil spreads out in a rainbow hued sheen, then you’re afflicted. What to do? Smudging yourself with sage may work, but clearing yourself with a selenite wand or an egg works better. To do this, take the selenite or egg, and starting with your head, move the object slightly above your skin, in the aura area, letting all the negativity that was aimed at you flow out of you and into the egg/selenite. Then work your way down, not forgetting to do both front and back. If after one cleansing you don’t feel clean, then do it a couple more times. The selenite trick is fairly well known in the main stream Pagan world. The egg cleansing comes from the Hoodoo and brujeria traditions.

How can you protect yourself? Use an evil eye! There are so many variations on this symbol, that the ways you can create one for you is absolutely endless. Almost every culture in the world has their own version of the evil eye, and volumes could be written on the subject. Just look on an American one dollar bill. The “all seeing eye” of Masonic fame? An evil eye! The version of the evil eye that most Westerners are familiar with is of Middle Eastern/North African ancestry. This version, along with the Hamsa hand/Hand of Fatima, spread east some into Iraq and Iran, and very far into the West with the Moorish Invasion. The Moors took this tradition to Spain where it was brought to the New World and added to the indigenous symbols against the evil eye. Ever wonder about the God’s eye/Sun’s eye motifs or the crescent symbol often seen in South Western jewelry? Evil Eyes!

So, now that you have the facts, there are many ways that you can integrate evil eyes into your life. In today’s world, eyes are always on you, so it pays to have evil eyes everywhere. If you are crafty and like to stitch, here is an evil eye cross stitch pattern:

Row 9: ch3-*dc in each dc and ch sp to 1st corner ch2sp-dc4,ch2dc4 in corner* repeat from * to * around. Join with sl st in top of ch3 sp. Fasten off.

If you’re not into stichin’ and bitchin’, you can still make cool evil eye items for your home or to wear as jewelry. The easiest way to do this is with flat blue marbles or blue glass beads and acrylic craft paint. The marble/bead will be your base. Then paint a circle of white on your base, making sure not to cover the entire surface. When the paint dries, paint a smaller circle of blue on the white. When that dries, paint a small circle of black in the center. This is the pupil of the evil eye.

Using blue comes from the Middle Eastern tradition, but blue can be substituted with red or orange, which comes from Hoodoo. This website has tons of wonderful evil eye items that can be used for craft ideas: http://www.evileyestore.com/

Nails

I think polished nails are absolutely sexy, and if done correctly, can be quite magical. There are tons and tons of evil eye design tutorials out there on the Web, but these are my favorite:

What better way to ward off the evil eye than to be able to flip off the person looking at you with malevolence with a middle finger painted with an evil eye? To further enhance that magic, henna can be applied to your hands (and other parts of your body), so that you create a living Hamsa hand/ hand of Fatima.

Henna can be purchased loose and then mixed or as a paste. In a future post I’ll cover all the different magical uses of Henna and my super special Henna recipe. But for now, if you want to explore Henna on your own, check out http://www.mehandi.com/ and http://www.tapdancinglizard.com/. These are the most historically accurate sites on henna out there. Get out your e-reader and have fun browsing around the free books and patterns. There are evil eye patterns on those sites from all over the historic henna-using world. I like and respect Catherine Cartwright-Jones’ scholarship enough that I have one of her researched henna patterns tattooed on my body (just a little something to honor a past life spent in an Ottoman harem).

Don’t want any outward symbols but still want evil eye protection? There’s are options for you, just not at this time of year. During the Halloween season in the U.S. stores abound with wonderful evil eye options for those who either want to ingest their evil eye or have it disappear into thin air. Any kind of eye ball candy makes the perfect ingestible evil eye. Before you eat, you can say, “Evil eye inside of me, watch, protect, and discourage for me!” There’s even evil eye beer! Bubbles are also a great, invisible evil eye option. Bubbles in eye ball containers can be charmed and blown around the house, person, or car for protection. In addition to yourself and your home and car, don’t forget to protect your computer. If you type “evil eye screen savers” into your favorite search engine, a plethora of images will come up that you can use to protect your computer, or you can just steal the image below.

There are tons of options out there for mal de ojo protection. Don’t get caught unprotected!

The Perchta Power Project–Exploring Pagan Domestic Discipline

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Depraved! A magazine dedicated to the artistic photography, writing, and practice of the BDSM lifestyle. Depraved! features the artwork of celebrated photographer, Depraved Eros, as well as writings, musings, and advice from some of the top artists in the lifestyle. Join us as we celebrate the beauty that is found in letting go and exploring the taboo side of human nature.